Clinton's Asia Trip

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In The Media

Clinton's Asia Trip

With Chinese economic growth rates decelerating beyond even the most pessimistic predictions and a leadership succession in three or four years, the CCP is more concerned about quelling internal unrest than engaging with the United States on pressing global issues.

By Minxin Pei

Published on Feb 22, 2009

Source: CNN's GPS

Hillary Clinton's recent trip to Asia marks the first time that a U.S. Secretary of State has made the continent his or her first stop since 1961. To discuss her trip's implications, Carnegie's Minxin Pei joined Kishore Mahbubani and Shekhar Gupta on Fareed Zakaria's program, GPS.

Pei cautioned against growing protectionist sentiment in the United States. Noting that 50% of Chinese exports are manufactured by American companies and other multinationals, he explained that erecting barriers against those exports would ultimately harm the American economy.

He also observed that the global financial crisis has rattled the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), especially since growth in China has decelerated beyond even the most pessimistic predictions. With a leadership succession coming up in three or four years, Pei suspects that the CCP is more concerned about quelling internal unrest than on engaging with the United States on pressing issues. Nonetheless, he said that one potential substantive outcome of the talks could be a Sino-American climate change agreement.

About the Author

Minxin Pei

Former Adjunct Senior Associate, Asia Program

Pei is Tom and Margot Pritzker ‘72 Professor of Government and the director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College.

Recent Work

In The Media
How China Can Avoid the Next Conflict
- Minxin Pei
In The Media
Small Change
- Minxin Pei

Political Reform Economy Climate Change Foreign Policy North America United States East Asia China

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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